


Wash Never Had Days Like This...Oh, Wait...

by Bethynyc



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: maleslashminis, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-13
Updated: 2011-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-26 01:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/277008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bethynyc/pseuds/Bethynyc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rescue went fine. The post-rescue escape...not so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wash Never Had Days Like This...Oh, Wait...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whichclothes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichclothes/gifts).



“Where did you say you learned to fly, Spike?” Xander's voice shook just a little bit.

“Never did say, pet.” Xander could see the corner of Spike's mouth curl up in a smirk. “Let's just say it's been a while.”

“Oh god.” Xander closed his eye and hoped that the plane was in good repair. “Just tell me you weren't taught by Wilbur and Orville.”

He heard a low snicker from Spike and felt the plane rise.

The evening had started out so well, too. They had gone to an abandoned airfield outside of Cleveland, checking up on the rumors of a vampire nest. It wasn't likely—too far from any reasonable feeding grounds—but worth a glance to see if they should send some of the less experienced Slayerettes in to clean up.

What they found was a group of occultists who were planning to sacrifice a child to a demon, thus opening the Cleveland Hellmouth from a safe distance.

Spike and Xander had foiled the plan and sent the kid off with the single Slayer backup they brought with them. Sally was smart, followed orders, and escaped with the former victim while Spike and Xander distracted the group of cultists. When distraction turned into a chase, they dashed into a hangar, where the only place to hide was in a plane, a Cessna to be precise, and the only way out was to take off.

Just how Spike got the plane started wasn't worth thinking about, especially since Xander found it disturbingly hot.

A crack of thunder blasted through the cockpit, and Xander's eye flew open. “What was that?” he asked.

“That,” said Spike, “was thunder. And if I'm not mistaken that,” and the sound of rain pattered on the plane, staining the windshield wet, “is rain. You sure you didn't get a conk on the head?”

“Yes, I'm sure!” Xander braced his feet and clutched at the armrests. “What are you going to do about it?”

“What, the rain? Go over it, of course.” He fiddled with the instruments and pulled on the stick. The engine made a sputtering sound before catching again. “Bollocks.” muttered Spike.

Xander felt the fear coil in the pit of his stomach. “That...doesn't sound good.”

“No. It isn't. Now shut up.”

Biting his lip to keep from asking questions every five seconds, Xander stared out the window at the rain that grew heavier every moment. Spike made frustrated noises at the control panel before finally speaking. “Strapped in good?”

Xander checked his seat belts. “Yeah. Why?”

“Things are going to get a little interesting.”

“Define interesting.” popped out of Xander's mouth before he remembered what happened to Serenity when those lines were said. They had just watched it with a group of Slayerettes the night before in the Cleveland chapter house. If that was the last movie he ever saw, thought Xander, he was glad it was a good one. “And don't say it!”

“Okay.”

For a few moments, the only sound came from the engines and the rain. Then...

“Oh god, oh god, we're going to...”

“Shut up, Spike!”

“...land in a field.” Xander turned to face Spike, who was watching the instruments carefully. “We've only got enough fuel for fifteen-twenty minutes, and if I have to circle it'll waste fuel.”

Xander thought about this for a minute. “So, you're saying we stole a broken plane.”

“An expensive broken plane, but yes.”

“And we're going to crash it in a field.”

“Preferably one without tall vegetation.”

Xander sighed. “Why is it always us? Buffy and Willow and Faith never end up in the broken plane in a _thunderstorm_ looking for a field to land in.”

Spike gave a little half-shrug. “We could be back at the airfield with the demon worshippers. Probably getting tied to an altar.”

Xander shook his head. “No, no, no, there is no worse, it's _already_ raining.”

Spike glared at him. “Just do me a favor and hold your panic until we've landed. Right?”

Xander took a deep breath. “Right. You fly. I'll...hold on.”

The next ten minutes involved Spike going back and forth between the instruments and peering through the thick rain, muttering to himself about estimated field lengths and air speed velocity. Finally, he seemed to spot a good place to land and circled the area in order to slow down enough to do so without crashing into the trees that marked the edge of the field.

“You might want to cover your head.” Spike said, and Xander folded himself up in the seat with his hands over his head.

“I trust you.” he said, and turned enough to see a real smile on Spike's face.

Then his stomach got left behind somewhere with the birds and the plane went lower and lower and landed with a thumprattlerattlerattle as they bounced over the uneven field. Xander heard Spike swearing as he fought with the controls, trying to keep the plane steady. They went over a large bump, and Xander could feel the plane tilt one way, and leaned in the other direction, hoping that they wouldn't flip over.

They stopped.

The rain poured down. Xander and Spike looked at each other. Xander started to laugh, a little hysterically. They had landed. They were safe. He leaned over and pulled Spike into a kiss. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome, pet. Now, there's a barn over there, I think. We should be all right to stay there until Faith can send someone to pick us up.”

“Sounds good.” Xander opened the door of the plane and unbuckled his seat belts.

Unfortunately, one foot got tangled and instead of jumping easily out of the plane, he found himself falling and everything went black.

~*~*~*~

“Wake up! Xander, wake up!”

He didn't feel so good, and whoever was calling him really needed to stop. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

Xander heard a sigh by his ear, then, “Don't hate me for this.” A searing pain shot through his ankle and Xander sat bolt upright.

“What the hell!” He looked around quickly. He was on a blanket in a drafty building, and he was really wet. Not soaking, but still, not good.

Spike had one hand on his ankle. “Can't take the boot off, but I'm pretty sure your ankle's broken. Plus, head wound.”

Tentatively, Xander touched his head and felt the familiar stickiness of not-quite-dried blood. “Ow,.” He looked at Spike. In the dark of the barn all he could make out was his hair, but he knew that the vampire was close. “Now what.”

“Now,” Spike proclaimed, “we get comfortable, call for backup, and hope that they get here before the farmers call the police to investigate the plane crash in their field.” Xander felt Spike's hands on him, and obediently leaned forward so that Spike could scoot behind him. With Spike's arms supporting him, he felt like he was all right.

He felt Spike gently cleaning up the blood on his head, using a rag from somewhere, he didn't know. Despite the lack of body heat, he felt better than he had for a long time.

“You worried me, Xan.” Spike whispered. “You fell, and you were just hangin' there, leg all wrong, blood pourin' off your head. And the rain. I could see you were still breathing, but...didn't know for sure until I got you in here.” Xander felt the press of lips against his head, on the uninjured side. “You don't get to do that again. Hear me?”

“Well, unless you've got a way of surgically removing my clumsy, I probably will.” Xander felt Spike tense behind him. “Hey. Yes, okay, I promise. No more tripping out of small aircraft.”

Spike relaxed minutely and Xander leaned back into his arms. Spike was here. They were safe. Faith and the others would send a rescue soon enough.

Except for the ankle, it was all good.

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Many thanks to the lovely and talented sage_and_sea for her insightful beta work!  
> Author's Note: written for whichclothes for the Xander round of maleslashminis, requesting Xander with Spike and incorporating h/c, bad weather, and flight. Hope you like it!


End file.
